The Bordwell reading talks about the recent Scorsese movie, Hugo, with great emphasis on the secretly major character in the film, Georges Melies. Melies was a great early filmmaker, and an inspiration to the industry/movement as a whole. According to Bordwell, the film is obviously a cleaned up version of the story (as Melies actually had 2 wives, etc.), but it actually does a pretty good job of accurately depicting the life of Melies, and his importance to the film industry. On a somewhat different, but related note, it also talks about the automaton in the film and how the film makers were not good enough tinkers to make an automaton like the real one and had to use magnets to simulate the effect.
The Meadows reading talks about Architecture (as place and space), and its relation to the abstract narrative. It uses the example of the Acropolis, and how it conveys a narrative of "power, freedom, and a sense of proximity to a god that watched over the city". Meadows talks about perspective, and how an architecture may not have its intended effect if the viewer is standing in the wrong place. Buildings are designed to account for this (logical entrance, forced path, direction, etc.). It talks about 1st vs 3rd person, and 2d vs 3d imagery. Meadows claims that architects are just the narrator for buildings. How we see the world is often defined by what is hidden from our view (walls). On the other hand, visual cues pull our views together. All in all, regardless of your medium (book, movie, video game, building), it is important to stay on top of what the viewer can see and how they see it if you want your story to come across as intended.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
20 Things i've Learned in Life
1. Learn all you can, for you never know when you'll need it.
2. Listen and you will be listened to.
3. It's a lot easier to lie to the world than to yourself.
4. Pick your battles.
5. Time spent sleeping is often wasted.
6. Luck is never more than temporary.
7. Nothing ever goes according to plan.
8. We are often our own greatest constraint.
9. The more we care, the more we accomplish, but the more we can get hurt.
10. Never be afraid to just ask.
11. Thinking is good, doing is better.
12. Keep your priorities straight.
13. Opportunities don't last forever.
14. Philosophy has not become useless, just integrated and more personal.
15. Stay connected.
16. People spend 80% of their life preparing for 20% of their life; don't be afraid to have some fun.
17. Practice may not make perfect but it makes progress.
18. It's more important to do something right than to do it fast.
19. Man's greatest flaw is his ability to make excuses.
20.Time spent wasted is not always lost.
2. Listen and you will be listened to.
3. It's a lot easier to lie to the world than to yourself.
4. Pick your battles.
5. Time spent sleeping is often wasted.
6. Luck is never more than temporary.
7. Nothing ever goes according to plan.
8. We are often our own greatest constraint.
9. The more we care, the more we accomplish, but the more we can get hurt.
10. Never be afraid to just ask.
11. Thinking is good, doing is better.
12. Keep your priorities straight.
13. Opportunities don't last forever.
14. Philosophy has not become useless, just integrated and more personal.
15. Stay connected.
16. People spend 80% of their life preparing for 20% of their life; don't be afraid to have some fun.
17. Practice may not make perfect but it makes progress.
18. It's more important to do something right than to do it fast.
19. Man's greatest flaw is his ability to make excuses.
20.Time spent wasted is not always lost.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Weekly Reading #2 and Flip Book
I apologize that this is a tiny bit late. Had some technical problems with the blog...
READINGS
Bazin talks about how creating an image is no longer done for the sole purpose of survival after death. It has grown into, as Bazin puts it, "Creation of an ideal world in the likeliness of the real". This was a tendency formed as early as when Leonardo DaVinci invented the Camera Obscura. Images are created for reasons both aesthetic and psychological. Bazin also discusses the mediums of painting and photography. He didn't like the realist art movement as it tried too hard to be accurate, and therefore felt that photography got painting back on track, for it allowed painters to stop trying to create perfect accuracy (since photos could do that easily) and instead allow them to move towards more traditional art objectives.
In "Persistence of Vision", Stephen Herbert questions the traditional theories behind perception of movement in films. This perception is in no way related to persistence as one might think (according to Herbert). Film needs to display 10 frames a second to create the illusion of motion. Flickering will ruin this illusion. Also, by slightly differing the pictures, "movement" is created.
FLIPBOOK
For my flipbook, I did a stick figure running with a day progressing around him. The sun goes up and down, and then the moon follows. I'm not a very artistic person, but I did a simple piece to make a statement. I tried to bring to light how we're always moving, and rarely stop to just enjoy our day. Notice how in the 24 hour cycle, the stick figure never stops running, and never really even breaks pace. The flipbook contained slides such as the following:
These are just 10 of my 63 pages, and this picture shows the slides in reverse order.
READINGS
Bazin talks about how creating an image is no longer done for the sole purpose of survival after death. It has grown into, as Bazin puts it, "Creation of an ideal world in the likeliness of the real". This was a tendency formed as early as when Leonardo DaVinci invented the Camera Obscura. Images are created for reasons both aesthetic and psychological. Bazin also discusses the mediums of painting and photography. He didn't like the realist art movement as it tried too hard to be accurate, and therefore felt that photography got painting back on track, for it allowed painters to stop trying to create perfect accuracy (since photos could do that easily) and instead allow them to move towards more traditional art objectives.
In "Persistence of Vision", Stephen Herbert questions the traditional theories behind perception of movement in films. This perception is in no way related to persistence as one might think (according to Herbert). Film needs to display 10 frames a second to create the illusion of motion. Flickering will ruin this illusion. Also, by slightly differing the pictures, "movement" is created.
FLIPBOOK
For my flipbook, I did a stick figure running with a day progressing around him. The sun goes up and down, and then the moon follows. I'm not a very artistic person, but I did a simple piece to make a statement. I tried to bring to light how we're always moving, and rarely stop to just enjoy our day. Notice how in the 24 hour cycle, the stick figure never stops running, and never really even breaks pace. The flipbook contained slides such as the following:
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Weekly Reading #1
For the first weekly reading, we had to read chapter 1 of Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion by Oliver Grau and chapter 1 from Understanding Machinima by Paul Marino.
Oliver Grau talks about virtual reality and media artists in an attempt to make a claim that art and media have always have an underappreciated interdependence. He claims that media artists are not just artists, but also scientists. Grau talks about the vague scope of virtual reality, and the relationship between non-digital virtual reality (which existed in the form of panoramas and other artistic methods), and more traditionally recognized digital virtual reality. Virtual reality is not a new phenomenon, but it would be foolish to pretend that it has not emerged in a metamorphosised form since the digital revolution.
Grau also discusses the concept of immersion, and how it differentiates virtual reality from "make-believe". By taking the observer and placing them into the virtual world, they are more willing to let themselves lose touch with reality and accept the virtual world as their new reality. Many different techniques exist for doing this, which is only logical since immersion lies at the heart of establish virtual reality.
In Paul Marino's piece, he discusses "Machinima". He talks about what it is, how it started, and how it has evolved.
Machinima is the utilization of a 3D virtual medium to produce animated film. It is commonly done within the medium of a video game or other virtual engine.
Machinima emerged in the 80s as a way for hackers to brag about software that they cracked. The hackers would use the software to make a short intro video that was their way of tagging their accomplishments. Clans also began doing this in some games for bragging rights.
One person (and eventually others) used early games like DOOM and Quake in a similar fashion, to create videos. But he also opened up the movement to less skilled techies by creating a piece of software to assist in making Quake videos. This led to more and more Quake films being produced.
But the interesting part of Machinima is not just the way it has evolved. Machinima is proof that nontraditional mediums can be used in producing alternative but impressive projects. Sometimes it just helps to think outside the box.
Oliver Grau talks about virtual reality and media artists in an attempt to make a claim that art and media have always have an underappreciated interdependence. He claims that media artists are not just artists, but also scientists. Grau talks about the vague scope of virtual reality, and the relationship between non-digital virtual reality (which existed in the form of panoramas and other artistic methods), and more traditionally recognized digital virtual reality. Virtual reality is not a new phenomenon, but it would be foolish to pretend that it has not emerged in a metamorphosised form since the digital revolution.
Grau also discusses the concept of immersion, and how it differentiates virtual reality from "make-believe". By taking the observer and placing them into the virtual world, they are more willing to let themselves lose touch with reality and accept the virtual world as their new reality. Many different techniques exist for doing this, which is only logical since immersion lies at the heart of establish virtual reality.
In Paul Marino's piece, he discusses "Machinima". He talks about what it is, how it started, and how it has evolved.
Machinima is the utilization of a 3D virtual medium to produce animated film. It is commonly done within the medium of a video game or other virtual engine.
Machinima emerged in the 80s as a way for hackers to brag about software that they cracked. The hackers would use the software to make a short intro video that was their way of tagging their accomplishments. Clans also began doing this in some games for bragging rights.
One person (and eventually others) used early games like DOOM and Quake in a similar fashion, to create videos. But he also opened up the movement to less skilled techies by creating a piece of software to assist in making Quake videos. This led to more and more Quake films being produced.
But the interesting part of Machinima is not just the way it has evolved. Machinima is proof that nontraditional mediums can be used in producing alternative but impressive projects. Sometimes it just helps to think outside the box.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Six Aspects of Time
The six elements of time are duration, speed, intensity, scope, setting and chronology. We have taken this first project as an opportunity to identify a few of them in different movies.
Duration:
To best exemplify duration, I chose to examine "88 Minutes".
88 Minutes (2007):
"88 Minutes" is a movie where the main character, Dr. Jack, is told he has only 88 minutes to live via phone call. Dr. Jack has to solve his own planned murder before its too late. The movie's run time is 111 minutes, leaving room for just over 20 minutes of film time used to depict the 9 years leading up to the phone call and the rest of the day after his murder is attempted.
The story pretty much ends at the end of the film. The murderer is on death row and the main character survives. The film does little to make the viewer wonder about the story post-movie end.
Intensity:
To demonstrate intensity, I chose to look at "Wanted".
Wanted (2008)
The main character in the movie is Wesley, an average guy who has his life turned upside down when he finds out that he receives a visit from a league of assassins. The movie is very intense, as depicted by the trailer. This is done to present the contrast between his old boring life and his new dangerous (yet somewhat awesome) one. If the actors and actresses had under exaggerated, the movie would lose its direction and no real progress would seem to be made.
The whole theme of the movie relies on the idea that Wesley's life becomes "an action adventure", an idea that would never really even appear if not for the intensity of the film.
Chronology:
To best exemplify chronology, I chose to examine the movie "VANTAGE POINT".
VANTAGE POINT (2007):
"VANTAGE POINT" is a movie about just one event - an assassination on the US President. The whole event happens in an instance, and the events following aren't long. But what makes the movie interesting is that it shows the event from the point of view of 8 different people, one after another, revealing a little more about the situation each time.
By using this nontraditional chronology, the film manipulates the perspective of the viewer in the story. The story changes dramatically as each new characters perspective is revealed, even though often times only one or two more facts are revealed. This style intrigues the user, keeping them shrouded for most of the story. At the end, all of the characters
If the movie was shown with the events in order, it would be about 20 minutes long, and not all that intriguing. The movie uses the chronology to play the user, tricking them as fit.
Duration:
To best exemplify duration, I chose to examine "88 Minutes".
88 Minutes (2007):
"88 Minutes" is a movie where the main character, Dr. Jack, is told he has only 88 minutes to live via phone call. Dr. Jack has to solve his own planned murder before its too late. The movie's run time is 111 minutes, leaving room for just over 20 minutes of film time used to depict the 9 years leading up to the phone call and the rest of the day after his murder is attempted.
The story pretty much ends at the end of the film. The murderer is on death row and the main character survives. The film does little to make the viewer wonder about the story post-movie end.
Intensity:
To demonstrate intensity, I chose to look at "Wanted".
Wanted (2008)
The main character in the movie is Wesley, an average guy who has his life turned upside down when he finds out that he receives a visit from a league of assassins. The movie is very intense, as depicted by the trailer. This is done to present the contrast between his old boring life and his new dangerous (yet somewhat awesome) one. If the actors and actresses had under exaggerated, the movie would lose its direction and no real progress would seem to be made.
The whole theme of the movie relies on the idea that Wesley's life becomes "an action adventure", an idea that would never really even appear if not for the intensity of the film.
Chronology:
To best exemplify chronology, I chose to examine the movie "VANTAGE POINT".
VANTAGE POINT (2007):
"VANTAGE POINT" is a movie about just one event - an assassination on the US President. The whole event happens in an instance, and the events following aren't long. But what makes the movie interesting is that it shows the event from the point of view of 8 different people, one after another, revealing a little more about the situation each time.
By using this nontraditional chronology, the film manipulates the perspective of the viewer in the story. The story changes dramatically as each new characters perspective is revealed, even though often times only one or two more facts are revealed. This style intrigues the user, keeping them shrouded for most of the story. At the end, all of the characters
If the movie was shown with the events in order, it would be about 20 minutes long, and not all that intriguing. The movie uses the chronology to play the user, tricking them as fit.
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